Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle scores big PR at Australian 10000m champs...
MELBOURNE, Australia--University of Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle (photo courtesy UW Athletics) scored a major personal best Tuesday night as she finished second in the 10000 meters at the Zatopek:10, the Australian national championship at the Box Hill Athletics Track, east of the city.
Batt-Doyle, who won the 2019 Pac-12 title at this distance and finished third at the NCAA championships that same year, entered the race with a personal best of 32:20.84, set in March 2019 at the Stanford Invitational. That mark is the current University of Washington school record.
She was in the back of a lead group of seven at the start of the race, and stayed there as they cranked out steady 75 to 76-second laps, going through 5000m at 15:50, with Batt-Doyle a second back.
With the pacemakers now out after shooting for the Olympic and world championships qualifying standard of 31:25.00, it was up to the group to get back on track.
At the 20-minute mark, Batt-Doyle moved up to fourth, still running comfortably in a group that included Rose Davies, Canadian Andrea Seccafien & Genevieve Gregson.
With 1500 meters to go, Batt-Doyle moved to the front with Davies and Seccafien still hanging on closely. A thousand meters later as the trio entered the home straight for the penultimate time, the Washington alum swung wide in an effort to run away from the remaining duo.
With 200 meters to go, Davies passed Batt-Doyle on the inside, opening up a huge gap, and carried it all the way to the finish line, winning in 31:39.97 with a 65 second final 400 to claim the Australian national title, and the world's fastest time so far this season.
You can watch the race below (fast forward to the 3:01:00 mark).
In a series of texts to publisher Paul Merca afterwards, Batt-Doyle said that she was pleased with her PR, but felt that she could run faster, given that it was reasonably windy, which explained why the pacers were behind at the 5000m mark.
"I knew it was being paced with the top girls going for 31:25 so thought I’d just hang on as 76-77s feel comfortable but 74-75 feels harder. I was surprised with how good I felt after halfway and into the final kms, when it was just down to three I felt I needed to push the pace a bit because we’d slipped the pace and I knew Rose has a very good kick which is almost unmatchable by anyone I know."
Batt-Doyle, who is competing without a shoe/apparel sponsor and raced in a pair of UW issued briefs, wished that she had made her move with 2400 meters to go. She's unsure if she'll get another opportunity to shoot for the Olympic and world championships standard this season, either in Australia or overseas.
Husky redshirt freshman Sam Tanner was originally listed in the men's 1500 meters, but did not make the trip from New Zealand to compete.
Complete results of the Zatopek:10 are available here.
NOTE: Athletics Australia contributed to this report.
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